but karen edwards from virginia rode out the storm. >> at 5:00 a.m. this morning i was really nervous. it shook the whole house and woke me up. >> reporter: earl passed farther out to sea than predicted but the powerful storm battered the barrier islands are 70-mile-an-hour winds. power is out for thousands and there is flooding. many are relieved it wasn't worse. >> we dodged a bullet, purely and simply north carolina dodged a bullet. >> reporter: business owners hope they can salvage the rest of the holiday weekend. earl is expected to bring more trouble. the massive storm will likely brush eastern long island before taking aim at massachusetts. a hurricane warning is in effect for cape cod and nantucket, which could get 100- mile-per-hour winds. >> i trust that it will be okay and i mean, we didn't board up our house but we took everything in. we followed all the instructions. >> reporter: federal emergency teams are already activated in massachusetts where the governor has declared a state of emergency. manuel gallegus, cbs news, kill devil hills,